East TN Economy??

[JMT]

Originally Posted by H10

Yes, you're right that is a big error on the US's part. I think it was mainly done because some regions benefit more from the "micropolitan" category than ours does, and we were just stuck with that new classification making Knoxville Metro more ambiguous.

This has been rectified... somewhat. In cases like Knoxville's region, Metro & Micro aren't very useful in gauging the actual city's usage, and that's what the CSA was created for (no not the Confederate States, lol). The Combined Statistical Area is a newer measure of population, and in my opinion, Knoxville's CSA is the only proper gauge that the Census folks use. The CSA includes ALL areas where the residents are commuting to work in, or heavily tied to Knoxville, bringing back those "micros" into Knoxville's population. The most recent Knoxville CSA was over 1.02 million, much more accurate than the reduced 681k reduced metro number if you ask me. I believe that for practical purposes, the 1.02m CSA is used when planning for Knoxville.

As for Atlanta, it is supposedly the Regional Center for the entire Southeast discounting Florida.

I was reading somewhere that after the Civil War Knoxville was actually the 2nd largest wholesale market in the South after Atlanta.

In the 1960s Nashville and Knoxville were about the same size, but Nashville's population started to really take off in the 1970s while Knoxville pretty much stagnated.

Personally I'd like to see downtown Knoxville add some more housing, especially high rises to add to the population density. There's a lot of grit and grime to central Knoxville that could be cleaned up and made more attractive (look at Chattanooga). There are undoubtedly thousands of college students (esp grad students), hospital workers and government employees who would probably rather live in downtown and walk/bike/take the bus to work or school if there were some more affordable options.

[H10]

Originally Posted by JMT

Personally I'd like to see downtown Knoxville add some more housing, especially high rises to add to the population density. There's a lot of grit and grime to central Knoxville that could be cleaned up and made more attractive (look at Chattanooga). There are undoubtedly thousands of college students (esp grad students), hospital workers and government employees who would probably rather live in downtown and walk/bike/take the bus to work or school if there were some more affordable options.

You mean rentals or condos? The South Riverfront will be adding a number of housing units, but that's not exactly downtown. Right now many lofts are currently under development in the existing buildings including 20+ units in the Commerce Building. Also a brand new building with housing units is being finished up (The Residences at Market Square - Knoxville, Tennessee). I believe the Phoenix building has a big project in the works too.

Personally, I think the Vols alone put Knoxville a notch above Nashville for any sports fans.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by H10

You mean rentals or condos? The South Riverfront will be adding a number of housing units, but that's not exactly downtown. Right now many lofts are currently under development in the existing buildings including 20+ units in the Commerce Building. Also a brand new building with housing units is being finished up (The Residences at Market Square - Knoxville, Tennessee). I believe the Phoenix building has a big project in the works too.

Personally, I think the Vols alone put Knoxville a notch above Nashville for any sports fans.

Oh I disagree about the sports thing. Not only does Nashville also have an SEC school, but they have the NFL, NHL, AAA baseball (which is near downtown and not banished to another county) as well as other college sports programs such as TSU, Lipscomb and Belmont. Add the suburbs and you have another NCAA Division 1 sports program (MTSU) as well as Cumberland U.

But about downtown Knoxville's housing situation, I'm glad to see more coming online. Hopefully there will be some that will be more affordable.

[Kitties of Domination]

Originally Posted by H10

You mean rentals or condos? The South Riverfront will be adding a number of housing units, but that's not exactly downtown. Right now many lofts are currently under development in the existing buildings including 20+ units in the Commerce Building. Also a brand new building with housing units is being finished up (The Residences at Market Square - Knoxville, Tennessee). I believe the Phoenix building has a big project in the works.

There is also a 21 story mixed use tower in the the beginning phases called the Sentinel Tower. They'll be upscale units I'm sure. Personally I would like to see the long-neglected McClung warehouse turned into affordable "starving artist" style units. Apparently the city is FINALLY taking legal action to seize the property from slum lord Saroff.

Sentinel Tower, Urban living Knoxville, Tennessee | (888) 9-HOLROB | East Tennessee Links

[H10]

Originally Posted by JMT

Oh I disagree about the sports thing. Not only does Nashville also have an SEC school, but they have the NFL, NHL, AAA baseball (which is near downtown and not banished to another county) as well as other college sports programs such as TSU, Lipscomb and Belmont. Add the suburbs and you have another NCAA Division 1 sports program (MTSU) as well as Cumberland U.

I don't consider MTSU to be in Nashville, since it is in Murfreesboro... And as far as I'm concerned, you could assemble a "dream team" of the best athletes from Vandy, Lipscomb, Belmont and TSU and they couldn't hold a candle to the starting lineup of the Volunteers (this year may be a bad example, lol). Summit & Fulmer are the winningest coaches in their sports, Summit's actually the winningest coach of any sport. Bruce Pearl has a strong record too.

The, arguably, biggest female & male athletes of 2008 are Candice Parker (Olympic Gold Medalist) & Peyton Manning (NFL MVP & Superbowl Winner). Peyton was recently named the most bankable name in the NFL (again) & Candice was the highest ranked female on a recent poll of olympians' popularity. Both also happen to be UT alumni.

[H10]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

There is also a 21 story mixed use tower in the the beginning phases called the Sentinel Tower. They'll be upscale units I'm sure. Personally I would like to see the long-neglected McClung warehouse turned into affordable "starving artist" style units. Apparently the city is FINALLY taking legal action to seize the property from slum lord Saroff.

Sentinel Tower, Urban living Knoxville, Tennessee | (888) 9-HOLROB | East Tennessee Links

Sounds good on both counts. But if they were "starving artist rates" don't you think UT students would snatch them before the creative class? Also, even SoHo lofts are a FORTUNE now, and that's where the starving artist lofts became popular. Personally, I don't think Sterchi Lofts are too expensive for a working adult, even a "starving artist" should be able to wrangle $10k a year.